


Spacedust

by silverivy13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Implied Crush, M/M, Random & Short, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 11:56:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20778182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverivy13/pseuds/silverivy13
Summary: “I like to come here and just kinda watch, y’know? Here we are, in the middle of space, trying to find Shiro and figure out how to beat Zarkon and worrying about all these stupid things, but if you think about it, these stars are gonna be here so much longer than us and we’re all just gonna kinda… fade to nothingness. Coming here puts it all in perspective, I guess. It makes everything seem so small. We’re all just kinda spacedust, y’know?”Or: Keith and Lance share a moment in a forgotten observatory deep in the castle (a klance excerpt from a scrapped fic that I liked and wanted to share)





	Spacedust

**Author's Note:**

> This is an excerpt from a fic I scrapped early on in the writing process. Basically the premise was set during the time Shiro had disappeared and Keith was leading Voltron. I only kept this part around because I liked it, and figured why not post it? My other random blurbs and shit have been received well enough lol.
> 
> Also I just love the headcanon of Lance having a pet llama lmao

Finding Lance was a harder task than Keith originally thought. He had expected the boy to be in his room or Hunk’s room, but he wasn’t, and when Keith continued to look, he discovered that Lance was nowhere to be found.

He had just entered a room he didn’t know was in the castle when he saw what seemed to be a familiar shape and upon approach, realized it was Lance. The boy was seated on the floor, huddled under a blanket he had obviously dragged from his room, staring out through enormous windows Keith had never known existed. The vast expanse of space, separated through what must have been at least 3-feet-thick glass, was on full display before him, and Lance was staring at it so intensely that he barely registered when Keith sat down next to him.

“What’re you doing?” Keith asked after a moment, deciding not to chew him out for disappearing so randomly. Lance glanced at him before turning back to stare outside.

“Just looking at the stars I guess,” he answered. Keith nodded and fixed his own gaze on the view before them. He had seen it hundreds of times at this point, but here, sitting in the dark next to Lance with only themselves and the stars, seemed to make it so much… more. It wasn’t really the right word but the universe was hard to describe. He watched as they twinkled in and out of sight, as a meteor shot past, as a shooting star drew a white streak across the dark sky. It was a long time before one of them spoke again and Keith was surprised when Lance did.

“There’s so many stars, huh,” he muttered, his voice quiet as if in awe. Without waiting for Keith to answer, he continued. “I like to come here and just kinda watch, y’know? Here we are, in the middle of space, trying to find Shiro and figure out how to beat Zarkon and worrying about all these stupid things, but if you think about it, these stars are gonna be here so much longer than us and we’re all just gonna kinda… fade to nothingness. Coming here puts it all in perspective, I guess. It makes everything seem so small. We’re all just kinda spacedust, y’know?”

Keith stared at Lance for a long time, unsure of how to respond, and when he finally did, he still didn’t know if it was the response Lance was looking for. “We might be dust, but we’re here. We can’t just throw away our problems by saying they won’t matter billions of years from now.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s just…” his voice trailed off. “...Do you think Earth is out there?” This question surprised Keith, considering it was a complete 180 from the previous topic, but he didn’t complain.

“Well obviously,” he replied. “Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah, but I mean, do you think we can see it? That it’s one of those stars out there and we just don’t know which one?”

Lance asked this with such a hopeful voice that Keith almost felt bad when he said, “There’s not really any way to know.”

Lance nodded after a moment and looked at Keith again, offering him a small smile. The look on his face nearly broke Keith’s heart; the boy looked so small and so homesick that it made him sick to his stomach. The underlying fear he had had the whole time about the others began to bubble up as he surveyed the lonely expression with unease. What would he do if one of them didn’t make it home? What would he say? What if it was his fault? He must’ve begun to look panicked because he felt something land awkwardly on his shoulder and he looked to see Lance staring at him, his face a mix of concern and embarrassment as he positioned the blanket around Keith’s shoulder.

“Is everything okay?” he asked worriedly and Keith forced himself to give Lance a small nod of his head. Clearly the other wasn’t convinced because Lance didn’t pull his arm away and instead used it to move Keith closer towards him. “You know you can talk about it, right? That you don’t need to hide every single thing you feel like some stormtrooper or whatever?”

“I really am fine,” Keith insisted, not wanting to do this right now. “I’m worried about you. What’s with that homesick talk all of a sudden? Where’s the cocky, carefree, brainless Lance we always see?”

“Brainless Lance needs a break sometimes,” Lance replied, laughing quietly. “Besides, I can’t really help it if I miss them, right? My mom, dad, brothers, sisters, my abuela, even my weird cousin Beni. And Coco.”

“Who’s Coco?” Keith echoed in confusion. Lance grinned at him.

“My pet llama, of course,” he replied with such seriousness that it almost made Keith laugh. Almost. Nice try Lance, but you weren’t getting it that easily.

“I can’t believe you have a llama,” Keith groaned. “But really, what else did I expect?”

“No clue, my man, but yeah, I have a llama. She’s warm and fluffy and the color of hot chocolate, so I named her Coco. She’s my one true love.”

“That’s a pretty sad love life,” Keith replied.

Lance barely managed to stop himself from saying that Keith could fix that. Not today gay thoughts.

“It is what it is,” Lance answered instead. “And whatever… but still. I miss her. I think that’s probably what I’m looking forward to the most about being done with this. I’ll get to go home and see my family again. Don’t you have some part of you that wants that?”

Keith shifted uncomfortably and looked away, trying to figure out the right way to tell Lance. He didn’t particularly want to and he was pretty sure Lance had some idea of what his... _family_ had been like, but it seemed like they were having a Bonding Moment and he needed to at least attempt to reply in kind.

“...I-I don’t really have one. A family,” he said at last. “My dad was... he was great but I barely remember him. I never knew my mom. And I never stayed with any foster families long enough to feel close to them. Maybe that was why I was always sent back in the end. I’ve always been alone. I mean, Shiro was there but then Kerberos happened and... I guess…” he swallowed, forcing himself to continue. “I guess no one wanted me. Not really. Shiro was the only one I was close to but he’s-he’s gone and… well, if I go back to Earth, I mean… I guess what I’m trying to say is that no one’s waiting for me back there. At least up here, I don’t have to deal with the whole world telling me I’m unwanted. I’d honestly rather stay in space. I'm needed here. Even if it's only as a pilot.”

When Lance didn’t respond and he was met with silence, Keith felt his blood run cold. Shit. He hadn’t meant to lay all that on him at once, this was why he kept things bottled up, of _course_ Lance didn’t know what to say, god what was he, an idiot? He turned to apologize, to tell him to forget it, to say _something_, when he felt the grip around him tighten and was suddenly pulled into Lance’s chest, close enough to hear the teen’s erratic heartbeat through the soft fabric of his t-shirt. Keith froze in shock, unsure of what to do.

“That’s not true, y’know,” Lance murmured softly. “That you’re unwanted. That’s definitely not true. Know how I know? Because I’m here, and I want you. Shiro isn’t the only one you have. I thought all of us were a family now, or at least something like it. Allura's the cool alien princess who's like a big sister, Hunk's the sweet younger brother, Pidge is the gremlin child from Hell, Shiro is Space Dad, Coran's the crazy uncle, I'm- well, I'm _me_, and you… I don’t really know how to explain it, but you’re the one who keeps me together. I'd say you're like a brother but you're more than that- at least, to me you are. You keep me grounded, Keith. You... you give me something to want to come back to. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you, so don’t say you’re not wanted. _I_ want you. I’m glad you’re here, Keith. I’m glad I met you.”

Keith couldn’t believe his ears. What exactly was he hearing right now? Were the words coming out of Lance’s mouth the real thing; he wasn’t just imagining all this? As Lance’s grip tightened ever so slightly, Keith willed himself to hold back, to embody everything a strong leader was supposed to and push Lance away, thanking him and reassuring him that he was fine, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t do it. Instead, he could feel his jaw clenching as those hateful things he had promised himself to never let fall again welled up behind lidded violet eyes. Silence enveloped the room and for a long time neither of them spoke. When it was finally broken, it was Lance who spoke up.

“And know what? You _do_ have a family,” he said confidently, glancing over to grin at Keith. “You can share mine. When we finally go home, don’t go back to that shabby old hut in the desert; come back with me to Cuba. We can share the same home, okay? There’s no way I’m letting you stay alone after hearing all that, not when you finally let someone in instead of bottling up inside until you explode like the firecrackers my cousin Beni sets off on the Fourth of July. Besides, I have way too many family members to handle myself. I’m sure they’ll love you since I- …s-since I’m the one bringing you back with me.” He chuckled nervously. “Abuela always wanted me to bring someone home after all.”

“...I’m not sure that’s what she meant,” Keith muttered quietly after a few moments. Lance’s face lit up when he received a response and he squeezed Keith so tight the boy let out a startled yelp. Lance pulled away almost immediately, a string of ‘sorry’s escaping his lips. However, he never actually stopped hugging Keith.

“Look, I-I’m not really good with these kind of situations,” Lance said awkwardly, trying to cover up his embarrassment that was increasing by the minute. “But you opened up to me and I don’t know, I guess I just kinda felt like it was the right time for a hug? I don’t know, was I wrong?”

“...No,” Keith answered after a long while, closing his eyes to keep the wetness inside them firmly in place. “No, I think you were right.”


End file.
